ShareMultiple buy-ins are part and parcel of tournament poker, but Scott Seiver took that to the limit – and way beyond – this week by firing 43 bullets at the WSOP $1k Flip & Go event, and failing to progress each time!
43 flip and goes later and I’m not even playing the tournament. #JBL
— Scott Seiver (@scott_seiver) June 12, 2022
Flip & Go poker is very simple – in fact so simple that it takes almost no skill on the part of the player whatsoever. Each player is dealt three cards, the flop is dealt, and then each player has to throw away one card.
Then it’s time to “Flip” the cards face-up and the turn and river decides who has the best hand, with hand rankings the same as in normal poker variants.
The winner then proceeds to the tournament proper, and a min. cash, while if you are Scott Seiver and don’t win, you rinse and repeat – 43 times!
Lot's of action today at @WSOP Flip & go tournament! @scott_seiver @_HERfavoriteDJ #poker #wsop2022 pic.twitter.com/MqOiDLZUSH
— Katerina Lukina (@k8te_look) June 13, 2022
At $1k a pop, that kind of approach can get pretty expensive very quickly of course, but Seiver took down the $2500 NLHE bracelet event #3 last week for a $320k score (and his 4th WSOP gold) so can doubtless afford the punt.
The maths of not winning in 43 attempts is rather brutal – a 0.3 percenter according to @Bong0Buddy on Twitter – with Seiver paying $4700 in rake along the way.
Alex Foxen and Josh Arieh took min. cashes, with Nick Schulman, Jeff Gross, Shaun Deeb,, David Peters, Patrick Leonard and last year’s Main Event champo, Koray Aldemir, also making the paid spots. The event has $187k up top, with Mike Matusow still in the mix.
The event hasn’t been free of criticism, though, with legendary WSOP commentator Norman Chad describing it as “a mockery of poker”.
The @WSOP is the most prestigious poker series on Earth.
— Norman Chad (@NormanChad) June 13, 2022
Yet in the Flip & Go bracelet event, you get a 1-in-8 chance to win a ‘flip’ with almost no skill involved, and that puts you in the money.
And this year, @scott_seiver entered FORTY-THREE times.
This a mockery of poker.
Others were happy enough to see the “degens” having one tournament where they could just fire for fun, and Seiver responded to Chad with the hilarious “I entered once per ex-wife you've had!”
It’s not unheard of for the top pros and biggest amateurs to take the multiple buy-in route to tournaments.
In 2018, Kings Casino owner Leon Tsoukernik fired 7 bullets at $25,750 apiece at the EM European Poker Championship Super High Roller event.
Unlike Seiver, however, “Loose Leon” saw a handsome profit on his investment when he went on to win the tournament, pocketing €370,000.
